Failure

Chapter 8 -
 Chapter 8: Mechanical Failure
ISSUES TO ADDRESS...
• How do cracks that lead to failure form?
• How is fracture resistance quantified? How do the fracture
resistances of the different material classes compare?
• How do we estimate the stress to fracture?
• How do loading rate, loading history, and temperature
affect the failure behavior of materials?

Ship-cyclic loading Computer chip-cyclic Hip implant-cyclic

from waves
waves. loading
thermal loading. loading from walking
walking.
Adapted from chapter-opening photograph, Adapted from Fig. 22.30(b), Callister 7e. Adapted from Fig. 22.26(b),
Chapter 8, Callister & Rethwisch 8e. (by (Fig. 22.30(b) is courtesy of National Callister 7e.
Neil Boenzi, The New York Times.) Semiconductor Corporation.)
Chapter 8 - 2
 The lighter side of Fracture
Mechanics
Fracture mechanics works to your advantage here (seldom the
case in engineering applications…We don’t like fracture and want
to prevent it! Guess why….

Chapter 8 - 3
 Fracture mechanisms

• Ductile fracture
– Accompanied by significant plastic
deformation
• Brittle fracture
– Little or no plastic deformation
– Catastrophic

Chapter 8 - 4
 Ductile vs Brittle Failure
• Classification:
Fracture Very Moderately
Brittle
behavior: Ductile Ductile

Adapted from Fig. 8.1,

Callister & Rethwisch 8e.

%AR or %EL Large Moderate Small

• Ductile fracture is Ductile: Brittle:
usually more desirable Warning before No
than brittle fracture! fracture warning

Chapter 8 - 5
Closer look at Ductile Failure

Chapter 8 - 6
 Example: Pipe Failures
• Ductile failure:
-- one piece
-- large deformation

• Brittle failure:
-- many pieces
-- small deformations

Figures from V.J. Colangelo and F.A.

Heiser, Analysis of Metallurgical Failures
(2nd ed.), Fig. 4.1(a) and (b), p. 66 John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1987. Used with
permission.

Chapter 8 - 7
 Moderately Ductile Failure
• Failure Stages:
void void growth shearing
necking fracture
nucleation and coalescence at surface


• Resulting 50
50mm
mm
fracture
surfaces
(steel)
100 mm
particles From V.J. Colangelo and F.A. Heiser, Fracture surface of tire cord wire
serve as void Analysis of Metallurgical Failures (2nd loaded in tension.
tension Courtesy of F F.
ed.), Fig. 11.28, p. 294, John Wiley and Roehrig, CC Technologies, Dublin,
nucleation Sons, Inc., 1987. (Orig. source: P. OH. Used with permission.
sites. Thornton, J. Mater. Sci., Vol. 6, 1971, pp.
347-56.) Chapter 8 - 8
Moderately Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

cup-and-cone fracture brittle fracture

Chapter 8 - 9
 Brittle Failure
Arrows indicate point at which failure originated

Adapted from Fig. 8.5(a), Callister & Rethwisch 8e.

Chapter 8 - 10
Chapter 8 - 11
 Brittle Fracture Surfaces
• Intergranular
Intergran lar • Transgranular
(between grains) 304 S. Steel (through grains)
(metal) 316 S. Steel
Reprinted
p w/permission
p (metal)
from "Metals Handbook", Reprinted w/ permission
9th ed, Fig. 633, p. 650. from "Metals Handbook",
Copyright 1985, ASM 9th ed, Fig. 650, p. 357.
International, Materials Copyright 1985, ASM
Park, OH. (Micrograph by International, Materials
J.R. Keiser and A.R. Park, OH. (Micrograph by
Olsen, Oak Ridge D.R. Diercks, Argonne
National Lab.)
160 mm
4 mm National Lab.)

Polypropylene Al Oxide
(polymer) (ceramic)
Reprinted w/ permission Reprinted w/ permission
from R.W. Hertzberg, from "Failure Analysis of
"Defor-mation and Brittle Materials", p. 78.
Fracture Mechanics of Copyright 1990, The
Engineering Materials", American Ceramic
(4th ed.) Fig. 7.35(d), p. Society, Westerville, OH.
303, John Wiley and (Micrograph by R.M.
Sons, Inc., 1996. Gruver and H. Kirchner.)
3 mm
1 mm
(Orig. source: K. Friedrick, Fracture 1977, Vol.
12
3, ICF4, Waterloo, CA, 1977, p. 1119.) Chapter 8 -
Transgranular Brittle Fracture in
Brittle
B ittl MMaterials
t i l

Chapter 8 - 13
 Intergranular Brittle Fracture in
Brittle
B ittl MMaterials
t i l

Brittle phase at grain boundaries such as Fe3C in

C > 0.77 wt% steels! Chapter 8 - 14
 Ideal vs Real Materials
• Stress-strain behavior (Room T):
 perfect mat’l-no flaws
E/10 TSengineering << TS perfect
materials materials
carefully produced glass fiber

E/100 typical ceramic typical strengthened metal

typical polymer
0.1 
• DaVinci (500 yrs ago!) observed... Reprinted w/
permission from R.W.
-- the longer the wire, the Hertzberg,
"Deformation and
smaller the load for failure
failure. Fracture Mechanics
of Engineering
• Reasons: Materials", (4th ed.)
Fig. 7.4. John Wiley
-- flaws cause premature failure. and Sons, Inc., 1996.

-- larger
l samples
l contain
t i llonger flflaws!!
Chapter 8 - 15
Geometric Definitions

Chapter 8 - 16
 Flaws are Stress Concentrators!

• Griffith Crack
1/ 2
a
m  2o    K t o
 t 

t where
t = radius of curvature
o = applied stress
m = stress at crack tip

Chapter 8 - 17
Concentration of Stress at Crack Tip

Chapter 8 - 18
The 3 Modes of Crack Surface
Displacement

Chapter 8 - 19
 Engineering Fracture Design
• Avoid sharp corners!
max
Stress Conc
Conc. Factor
Factor, K t =
0

2.5
w
max
2.0 increasing w/h
r, h
fillet 1.5
radius
1.0 r/h
0 0.5 1.0
sharper
h fill
fillett radius
di
Chapter 8 - 20
 Crack Propagation
Cracks having sharp tips propagate easier than cracks
having blunt tips
• A plastic material deforms at a crack tip, which
“blunts” the crack.
deformed
region
brittle ductile

Energy balance on the crack

• Elastic strain energy-
• energy stored in material as it is elastically deformed
• this energy is released when the crack propagates
• creation of new surfaces requires
q energygy

Chapter 8 - 21
 Something to Remember
(forever)
Compressive stress Tensile stress
brittle brittle

ductile ductile

Tensile stresses acting on the crack induce crack propogation……very bad!

Compressive stresses acting on the crack cause crack closure…..good.
Chapter 8 - 22
 Criterion for Crack Propagation
Crack propagates if crack-tip stress (m)
exceeds a critical stress ((c)
1/ 2
 2E s 
i.e., m > c c   
 a 
where
– E = modulus of elasticity
– s = specific surface energy
– a = one half length of internal crack

For ductile materials => replace s with s + p

where p is p
plastic deformation energy
gy

Chapter 8 - 23
 Plane Strain Fracture Toughness
KIc
For thin specimens, the value of Kc depends on the thickness.
However, when the speciment thickness is much greater than the
crack dimensions,, Kc becomes independent
p of thickness under
which circumstances a plane strain condition exists leading to
plane strain fracture toughness KIc.

K Ic = Y   a
Mode 1

KIc is a material pproperty

p y like yyield strength!
g
24
Chapter 8 -
 Things to Known and Understand
About KIc
1) Brittle materials have low KIc as there is no plasticity at the
front of the crack tip.
2)) Ductile materials have high
g KIc as the pplastic zone in front
of the crack tip makes crack propagation difficult. It may even
stop it.
3) KIc depends on temperature
temperature, strain rate and microstructure
(including grain size). KIc  as T , KIc  as strain rate ,
smaller the grain size the larger the KIc

K IcI = Y   a
25
Chapter 8 -
 Fracture Toughness Ranges
p
Graphite/
Metals/ Composites/
Ceramics/ Polymers
Alloys fibers
Semicond
100
C-C(|| fibers) 1
70 Steels
60 Ti alloys
50
40
Al alloys
30 Mg alloys Based on data in Table B.5,
a · m0.55 )

20 C lli t & R
Callister Rethwisch
th i h 8 8e.
Al/Al oxide(sf) 2 Composite reinforcement geometry is: f
Y2 O 3 /ZrO 2 (p) 4 = fibers; sf = short fibers; w = whiskers;
C/C( fibers) 1 p = particles. Addition data as noted
10 (vol. fraction of reinforcement):
Al oxid/SiC(w) 3
Si nitr/SiC(w) 5
K Ic (MPa

1. (55vol%) ASM Handbook

1 Handbook, Vol.
Vol 21
21, ASM Int
Int.,
7 Di
Diamond
d Materials Park, OH (2001) p. 606.
Al oxid/ZrO 2 (p) 4
6 Si carbide Glass/SiC(w) 6 2. (55 vol%) Courtesy J. Cornie, MMC, Inc.,
5 Al oxide PET Waltham, MA.
4 Si nitride 3. (30 vol%) P.F. Becher et al., Fracture
PP Mechanics of Ceramics, Vol. 7, Plenum Press
3 PVC
(1986). pp. 61-73.
4. Courtesy CoorsTek, Golden, CO.
5. (30 vol%) S.T. Buljan et al., "Development of
2 PC Ceramic Matrix Composites for Application in
Technology for Advanced Engines Program",
ORNL/Sub/85-22011/2, ORNL, 1992.
6. (20vol%) F.D. Gace et al., Ceram. Eng. Sci.
1 <100>
100 Proc Vol.
Proc., Vol 7 (1986) pp
pp. 978
978-82.
82
Si crystal PS Glass 6
<111>
0.7 Glass -soda
0.6 Polyester
Concrete
0.5 Chapter 8 - 26
 27
Chapter 8 -
 Design Against Crack Growth
• Crack growth condition:
K ≥ Kc = Y a
• Largest, most highly stressed cracks grow first!
--Scenario
Scenario 1: Max.
Max flaw --Scenario
Scenario 2: Design stress
size dictates design stress. dictates max. flaw size.
2

design 
Kc 1  K c 

amax 
  Ydesign 
d i
Y amax 
amax

fracture fracture
no no
fracture amax fracture 
Chapter 8 - 28
 Design Example: Aircraft Wing
• Material has KIc = 26 MPa-m0.5
• Two designs to consider...
Design A Design B
--largest flaw is 9 mm --use same material
--failure stress = 112 MPa --largest flaw is 4 mm
K Ic --failure
f il stress
t =?
• Use... c 
Y amax
• Key point: Y and KIc are the same for both designs.
KIc
=  a = constant
Y 
--Result:
112 MPa 9 mm 4 mm

 c amax   
A c amax  B

Answer: (c )B  168 MPa Chapter 8 - 29

How is it Measured…K
Measured KIc

30
Chapter 8 -
 Impact Testing
• Impact loading: (Charpy)
-- severe testing case
-- makes
k material
t i l more b
brittle
ittl
-- decreases toughness
Adapted from Fig
Fig. 8
8.12(b),
12(b)
Callister & Rethwisch 8e. (Fig.
8.12(b) is adapted from H.W.
Hayden, W.G. Moffatt, and J.
Wulff, The Structure and
Properties
p of Materials,, Vol. III,,
Mechanical Behavior, John Wiley
and Sons, Inc. (1965) p. 13.)

fi l height
final h i ht i iti l h
initial height
i ht

Chapter 8 - 31
 Influence of Temperature on
Impact Energ
Energy
• Ductile-to-Brittle Transition Temperature (DBTT)...
( )

FCC metals (e.g., Cu, Ni)

ct Energy

BCC metals (e.g., iron at T < 914ºC)

polymers
Brittle
tt e o e Ductile
More uct e
Impac

High strength materials (  y > E/150)

Temperature Adapted from Fig. 8.15,

Callister & Rethwisch 8e.
Ductile-to-brittle
p
transition temperature

Chapter 8 - 32
 Effect of Carbon Concentration on
Ductile to Brittle Transition in Plain C
Steels

Chapter 8 - 33
 Design Strategy:
Stay
St Above
Ab The
Th DBTT!
• Pre-WWII: The Titanic • WWII: Liberty
y ships

Reprinted w/ permission from R.W. Hertzberg, Reprinted w/ permission from R.W. Hertzberg,
"Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering "Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering
Materials",, (4th ed.) Fig. 7.1(a), p. 262, John Wiley and
Materials Materials",, (4th ed.) Fig. 7.1(b), p. 262, John Wiley and
Materials
Sons, Inc., 1996. (Orig. source: Dr. Robert D. Ballard, Sons, Inc., 1996. (Orig. source: Earl R. Parker,
The Discovery of the Titanic.) "Behavior of Engineering Structures", Nat. Acad. Sci.,
Nat. Res. Council, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., NY,
1957.)

• Problem: Steels were used having DBTT’s just below

room temperature. Chapter 8 - 34
Summary of Important Equations
You should Understand

35
Chapter 8 -
ANNOUNCEMENTS

36
Chapter 8 -